Re: do you need a captains license to take people out for day sailing ( for a small f

Correct answers. Yes you are held to higher levels of accountability when licensed. Yes, you are required to have a license that authorizes you to the tonnage and number of passengers.

What you CAN do without a license, is allow guests to contribute their fair share for trip expenses. I would keep very careful records of this, if you do, both of money collected and money spent on booze, provisions, fuel, etc. If you collect more than what you spend on just what is needed to make the voyage, then you are profiting, and carrying passengers for hire. If you want to actually make a little money with your boat, you have a lot of regulatory hoops to jump through.

do you need a captains license to take people out for day sailing ( for a small fee)?

What about the following setup, apologies if it sounds contrived: there's an auction (with proceeds going to some charitable cause, like the school your kid goes to), and your contribution to the auction is to take whoever purchases the lot out for a sail on your boat. None of the money goes to you; one can argue that such auctions are a form of donating. But the customer does pay, in the form of purchasing the auction lot. You don't have a USCG license. Is it legal?

Re: do you need a captains license to take people out for day sailing ( for a small f

Quote:

Originally Posted by antoha

What about the following setup, apologies if it sounds contrived: there's an auction (with proceeds going to some charitable cause, like the school your kid goes to), and your contribution to the auction is to take whoever purchases the lot out for a sail on your boat. None of the money goes to you; one can argue that such auctions are a form of donating. But the customer does pay, in the form of purchasing the auction lot. You don't have a USCG license. Is it legal?

Thank you!
Anton

Probably legal, if barely. But run it by your insurance carrier because you are sort of pushing the envelope on the definition of "guest" with this idea. And also, if you do this repeatedly it might attract unwanted attention from the CG. Overall, it doesn't sound like a good idea to me, TBH, but maybe that's just me. I have never liked having strangers aboard any boat of mine, generally.

Re: do you need a captains license to take people out for day sailing ( for a small f

GrowleyMonster makes a good point. There is the issue of the CG license, but there is also the issue of your insurance. In case of an incident, they may well say that you were operating your boat commercially, and so you are not covered.

By the way, when it comes to splitting expenses, you have to pay your share also. If you take 4 friends out, split the expenses 4 ways, and make them pay for all of it, then the CG says you have to have a license. With 4 friends along (a total of 5 on the boat, including you) you have to split the expenses 5 ways, and you pay your part.

The CG also says that, when it comes to sharing expenses, it has to be "voluntary." What does that mean? I'm not sure, because I have not been able to find any court cases where this was adjudicated. Nonetheless, I would be very careful how you word your invitation if you are sharing expenses. If you tell someone, "you cannot come along unless you pay your share," and somehow that gets back to the CG (I don't know how it would, but just "if"), then they would probably say that it was not "voluntary" and you were operating without a license.

As you can see, once you start asking people to provide compensation for going out with you on your boat, it gets very complicated, very quickly.

Re: do you need a captains license to take people out for day sailing ( for a small f

Quote:

Originally Posted by antoha

What about the following setup, apologies if it sounds contrived: there's an auction (with proceeds going to some charitable cause, like the school your kid goes to), and your contribution to the auction is to take whoever purchases the lot out for a sail on your boat. None of the money goes to you; one can argue that such auctions are a form of donating. But the customer does pay, in the form of purchasing the auction lot. You don't have a USCG license. Is it legal?

Thank you!
Anton

I have run this exact scenario past my insurance company and in their view the vessel would be "for hire" and if there were a lawsuit or claim I would be without coverage. Furthermore, I have (since that time) successfully completed my CG Captains course (OUPV "six pack") and based on my limited training I'm fairly certain the CG would look upon that as an illegal activity unless you are licensed.